Microsoft offers free trial of Windows 8 as it revs up to battle Apple and Google

Microsoft has released an incomplete version of Windows 8 for the public to download and trial.

The release is a make-or-break moment for the firm that will either propel it back to the forefront of personal computing or see it lag further behind its arch rival Apple.

Windows 8, designed by ARM Holdings Plc, will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops, in an effort to counter the runaway success of Apple Inc's iPad.

Windows 8 features blocks or 'tiles' that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application. The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance

Windows 7, Microsoft's last operating
system, was its fastest-selling ever, racking up 525 million sales in
less than three years. But Microsoft has found itself sidelined in the
rush toward mobile computing by Apple, Google and Amazon.

More than 90 per cent of the world's
PCs still run Windows, but while Microsoft remains profitable thanks to
divisions such as Xbox, sales of Windows have slowed.

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Rival Apple, with its command of the
tablet market, has gained. Microsoft's market capitalisation is now $267
billion, less than half Apple's $535 billion.

Windows 8 will come in two variations -
one that works on desktops and laptops, and a new version for the ARM
microprocessors in tablets, smartphones and other portable devices.

There is no set release date, but it's
widely expected to be available in autumn - offering Microsoft Office
free on tablets, which could be a 'killer app' that puts Windows 8
machines ahead of Apple devices.

In both versions, Windows 8 features a
completely new interface, borrowed from what Microsoft calls the
‘Metro’ style of the current Windows Phone software.

It features blocks or 'tiles' that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application.

The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance.

The Windows 8 release has to be good, and soon, say industry experts.

'Now that the tablet market is being
defined by the iPad and the (Amazon) Kindle, if they come out with a
buggy first version, they won't get a second chance,’ said Michael
Cherry, a former Microsoft engineer who now works at independent
research firm Directions on Microsoft. ‘They can't afford to disappoint
customers.’

Microsoft has not put a timetable on
the final release, but Windows unit head Steven Sinofsky has said new
versions of Windows should be no more than three years apart, which
would put a Windows 8 debut around October 2012.

Everybody will be able to download a
test version of Windows 8 that will run on PCs and laptops based on
Intel chips. But they won't get to try out Windows 8 on an ARM tablet
until later this year.

The new Windows 8 Consumer Preview is displayed during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain

President of Windows and Windows Live Division Steven Sinofsky demonstrates new features of Windows 8 in Barcelona